Play Therapy Analysis

“Techniques of Play Therapy: A Clinical Demonstration” presented by Nancy Boyd Webb, introduces play therapy. Dr. Webb skillfully interacts and assesses 4- to 12-year-olds, and implements effective interventions using drawing materials, clay, play dough, puppets, dolls, blocks, and card and board games. The three segments of her therapy procedure are the initial play therapy sessions, follow-up sessions, and an initial parent interview. The initial parent interview comes first to gain a complete background on the nature of the problem, the child’s developmental history, help the parent prepare the child for the visit and encourage involvement. The first child’s mom thinks the child, Natalie, may be anxious because of her starting school

Willy is a child who has been in foster care and is currently in residential care. Before Willy said he liked drawing, however, when asked to draw he just copied the picture from the marker box. He did not show any feelings of pride when complimented and responded minimally to questions. Dr. Webb moved at his pace and was patient to show her respect for how important it was for him to complete the drawing. After completing the drawing, Willy felt comfortable enough to ask to play with the puppets. Puppets and Dolls are used in child play to make the child have some form of identification with the characters, allowing the child and therapist to talk about feelings and emotions that belong to the puppet rather than to the child, so the child is not required to take ownership of the problem. Willy eagerly involved himself in the puppet play involving a lion and some family figures and had the lion attack them. Dr. Webb noted that even though scary stuff was happening in the play Willy showed little emotion, this could mean he is afraid to show his emotions. Then she gave him dolls and doll house furniture. Despite the doll house being big, Willy put all the family into one room. Dr. Web then learned that his family lives in one room, and his concluding statement is they're all still together, could mean he wishes that he could be reunited with his

One of the play activities Katy enjoyed was making faces on paper plates. Dr. Webb believes that Katy has difficulties with her sense of identity and drawing the mask-like face allows her to experiment with different kinds of expressions and feelings. Another play therapy used was board games that involve structured activities with cards indicating requirements to respond in a talking manner to a feeling. One question Katy got was “what’s the worst thing you can say about another person?” She said calling him/her stupid, dumb and weird. These adjectives were probably something that was said to her in the past so Dr. Webb helped her figure out what she could say back in a situation like that by asking Katy what should someone say back if told that? She made her say an assertive statement that would indicate that she feels okay about herself and that those things should not apply to her at all. After Dr. Web asks about her temper managements and Katy says she doesn’t get mad so often anymore. Joana, an older follow up patient, came to Dr. Webb because her parents separated, and her uncle died. She would come with her sister, and they would always fight, so her therapy was focused on managing her anger. Dr. Webb uses Clay to treat Joanna because it provides the child not only with the choice of how to express feelings, but also a physical outlet for